On second thought... Irene strengthening?

I should really stop trying to blog potential good news. First it was “the trend is your friend” about the eastward forecast trend, which promptly reversed itself. Now I just posted about the possibility Irene might not fully get her act back together — only to see her on satellite (visible, infrared, water vapor), appearing to get her act back together.

We’ll see what happens, but I’m back to thinking my original prediction, last night, is more likely to prove right: “The hurricane doesn’t yet have the classic appearance of a monster storm on satellite, because she probably just went through, or is going through, an eyewall replacement cycle (the details are a bit murky at the moment). But it’s quite likely she will develop that classic appearance in the next 24 hours or so. When she does, people will suddenly start to panic.”